May 24, 2005
"I have gathered a posie of other men's flowers, and nothing but the
thread that binds them is mine own." John Bartlett

Congrats to all those who race and presented the Baton Rouge off road
duathlon at the Hooper Road Park. Again, the event got lots of print
media coverage in the Advocate newspaper. I wonder if more "non-
racing" folks are interested in these type events since they keep
racing folks off the highways and byways where their motor vehicles
are? Check out one racer's report on the event at the very bottom of
this report.

<<Lake Charles Area Multisporter Diagnosed with Cancer>>
From Don Attaway [mailto:hammer2@...]
My doctors told me May 18th that I have cancer covering my lungs and
liver. I have a 7-inch tumor behind my liver, my pelvis, right side
of my ribs, and under my right shoulder blade of my bones are also
covered. Doctors are giving me about two weeks to live. I love you
all.

<<Competitive Cyclists Ready to Race in Monroe Area>>
From Charles Fry
Let me just remind all competitive cyclists that this Memorial Day
weekend is our Twin City Challenge road race and time trial in
northeast Louisiana. We hope to see a large turnout this year and are
crossing our fingers that the weather will cooperate for once. Our
course is the same as last year's with rolling hills, fast descents,
technical corners, and better-than-average road surfaces.

The time trial is on Sunday and will be a 10km, which is one way with
smooth surface.

We wish all of those traveling from out of town a safe trip and bring
all your teammates! If you have any questions regarding accomodations
or the events themselves, then feel free to contact our race director
Jim Norris at jnorris@....

<<Memorial Day Weekend Triathlons Set in New Orleans>>
From Premier Event Management mike@...
Join us Memorial Day Weekend in New Orleans for two great races in
one great city. The first starts on Saturday, May 28 with the
GirlPower Triathlon and the second is the Nokia Sugar Bowl Triathlon.

Sugar Bowl Triathlon
UNO Research Park
2045 Lakeshore Drive, New Orleans
May 29, 2005, 7 a.m.
Individual or Team..the challenge is yours to accept
1.5km swim - 40km bike - 10km run
$2000 Purse

GirlPower Triathlon
UNO Lakefront Arena / UNO Aquatic Center
6801 Franklin Ave., New Orleans
May 28, 2005, 7 a.m.
300m pool swim - 8-mile bike - 2-mile run

Also, we are offering the inaugural Battle of New Orleans Triathlon
Team Championship presented by the Louisiana Office of the Lieutenant
Governor This team championship is an open competition for all team
registrants in the Nokia event. A $500 prize purse will be awarded to
top teams, so grab your swimming, cycling, or running friends and
join the "Battle"!

Find out more details contact Premier Event Management, P.O. Box
8764, Metairie, LA 70011 or phone 504.454.6561. Email mike@pem-
usa.com or go to
http://www.pem-usa.com.

<<Bonnet Carré Spillway Off-Road Cycling Time Trial Set June 12>>
There will be a Bonnet Carré Spillway off-road cycling bike race time
trial on June 12. The spillway is located near the community of
Norco, just outside LaPlace off of Interstate 10.

Start Time: 10 a.m.
Registration: 9 a.m.
Entry Fee: $20
Classes: beginner, sport and expert
For more information call 504.319.7348.

For Sale
From Kevin Clement
I am no longer willing to put forth the facade of a functional
cyclist.
I am selling my Elite Volare fluid trainer. I bought it from Bike
Connection, paid a bit over $200 for it, an additional $5 for the
stand. I have used it fewer than 10 times. Call 225.669.1851.

For Sale
From Marc Breecher
I have a Polar Heart Rate Monitor for sale. I used it about a dozen
times last year.
Polar M21 features:
a. EKG accurate
b. OwnZone determines your target zone
c. OwnCal calculates your calorie expenditure
d. Average heart rate of an exercise
e. Time in target zone
f. Out of zone alarm
g. Watch functions with date
h. Exercise reminder after three inactive days
i. Backlight
j. Water resistant to 100 feet
I paid $120 at Academy Sports and I am selling for $60.

Email me if your interested at mdbreecher@... I have the box
and all paperwork with it. Perfect condition.

++++++++++

That's it from here. Bless God America.

Kenny Dunaway
2325 Weymouth Drive #D
Baton Rouge, LA 70809-1481
USA
225/296-7490
Isaiah 40:31; John 3:16

P.S. Here is a narative by Jay Maust of last weekend's adventure race
in Baton Rouge:

A Typical Race...this is what actually happened at last week's
adventure race in Baton Rouge.

Let's see ... it was supposed to be about 10 miles biking, 5 miles
running/trekking, and 5 miles canoeing. Organizers only give
estimates as the course route isn't revealed until just before the
thing starts. We also had to have a camelback or some means of
hydration, all our bike equipment, and for unknown reasons ...10 feet
of rope. That's the fun part about adventure racing ... you never
know what is going to happen next and it is best to be overprepared
and have too much stuff rather than need something you forgot. My
team (Perry Parke, Ranada Guidry, and myself) was in the co-ed
division which is considered the "real" and original and probably
most competitive division (unlike the co-ed masters division where a
bunch of old and slow people like Chris Comeaux, Anne Billeaudeaux,
and Billy Craddock compete). Just kidding;.they wouldn't let me on
their team. There are actually 4 divisions: co-ed, co-ed masters
(over 40), all male, and all female. Adventure racing has its
origins as a team coed event, so this is the largest division
typically.

For adventure races or trail races, there typically is a contingent
who actually camp out at the race site the night before in tents and
in some larger races, I've even seen RV's. As a rule of thumb, the
longer the race and the more rural it is, the more diehards you get
into it, and the more you get the naturalists who camp out, and look
like they could live off the land. It was actually a little cool in
the 60's and we weren't sure exactly what the weather was going to be
like. It seems like almost every race I've done, it's rained or had a
thunderstorm sometime during the day. Not this one as the fog
cleared after the sun came out.

We checked in at the park and got our packets with t-shirts and a
free Hooked on the Outdoors magazine (which is very good if you've
never read one). There were SUVs everywhere with mountain bikes on
them. There were grandma and grandpa-looking people, fit triathlete
groups and teams with uniforms, a few Barbie-looking silicone
sisters, and the posers -- guys who work out but probably have never
been on a trail before. One thing I've learned is that you really
cannot tell at all who is fast and fit and who is out there for the
first time. Most people do the race with tri or bike shorts and a t-
shirt or cycling shirt or wicking workout shirt. Some wear regular
clothes and are just out there for fun. There really is no pressure
at all before the race and the atmosphere is all fun. Bathrooms and
the lack of them are the same as all races -- porta lets with TP if
you're lucky. The transition area is just that -- an area. At 8:30,
they called all the team captains over and we were given laminated
maps of both Hooper and Comite parks with their trails. On the maps
(not all races, but since this one had no navigation) the checkpoints
were numbered out with detailed trail legends. We also were given an
overview of the race and the order of events. Two most important
things for participants in adventure races are organization, and the
need to adapt as things may change or not work out exactly as you
thought they would. I sat on my foldup chair and plotted the order,
following on the map and reviewing out loud with our team to try to
get an idea of what was going to happen for that day.

Summary: start with a mystery event at 9a.m., about a 2-3 mile trail
run with 2 checkpoints, another mystery event, about 5 miles of trail
riding through Hooper with about 3 checkpoints, out to the road to
ride ~1mi to Comite park, another 3-4 mile trail run, canoe portage
to the river, about 5 miles of out and back canoeing with 3
checkpoints, another canoe portage, a mystery event, and another 5-7
miles of trail riding in Comite with another 4 checkpoints, a road
ride back to Hooper, and another 2mi or so trails with 2 checkpoints
on the Hooper trails where we then finished on our bikes where we
started. As usual, Dave Poleto's races are meticulously planned out
and all intersections on the roads have police to stop traffic.
Also, there were several (maybe 6) "Treasure Hunt" points off the
main trails where the first ones to find them received a $100 gift
certificate to Massey's Outdoors, one of the sponsors. These points
are optional and are not usually located on the normal routes
followed to the checkpoints -- you could spend 5 minutes or even an
hour trying to find the clipboard, and even then may not find it, or
even worse, find it and see that the certificate is already gone. The
most important thing to remember is that these are team events and
all members have to stay within 50 feet of each other. So, if someone
is too tired to run, the whole team is walking, and if someone gets
lost on the trail, the whole team is lost. Also, the checkpoints have
to be done in order, so if you miss one, you have to go back and find
it first before proceeding to the next.

How did the race go? There were a few surprises. We started with the
first mystery event which consisted of one team member being carried
(any form was OK) with all team members remaining in touch contact
for about 300 yards. We were directed to start going in the opposite
direction from where we were planning on going to the trails into the
woods heading toward the first checkpoint. Word to the wise here:
don't just blindly follow a herd. Many people out there can't read
maps or simply were going in the wrong direction, so plan where you
want to go and follow your map and your instincts. The course and
trails are not marked and you are on your own to find your way. You
are also free to venture off trail and "bushwack" if you desire.
After about a mile in the woods, we decided to cross off the trail to
another as opposed to running an extra half mile or so on the trail.
Several other teams did also. We had to jump off a 4-5 foot mud drop
in the woods and cross a small ditch to a parallel trail (about 200
yards versus a half mile if we'd stayed on the trail).

I knew we were going to get muddy and wet during the race, so I
didn't care and just waded thru the mud of the 8-10 foot wide creek.
Ranada waded through. Perry, trying to stay clean at that time,
tried to long jump the creek. He landed about a foot short and
promptly sank to his knee in the mud with his lead foot. When he
pulled it out, he lost his shoe and had to retrieve it and put it
back on. So much for staying clean. And, who really cares much about
poison ivy? We immediately found the first checkpoint which is just a
punch hanging from a tree and went to number 2. There was chaos with
teams running in both directions on the trails as some teams were
lost already, separated, or simply taking the long route while
avoiding the shoe swallowing mud of the creek.

We soon found number 2 and started back to the transition area out of
the woods. We decided again to cross the creek and shave time, but
this time it was easier crossing. I knew we were doing OK as the
people running around us were running pretty fast. We finally came
out of the woods into the open area and one of the volunteers told us
we were the 12th team through. Not bad considering Perry is really
the only fast runner on the team.We had a mystery event where we had
to belly crawl under some netting and then crawl on our backs under
the netting. Perry said it reminded him of his military training
camp. We also had to do some obstacle course work running around
cones, climbing under railings, and zig zagging back and forth.

After finishing, we punched that checkpoint and got on our bikes. I
looked around and saw lots of bikes still there which meant we were
doing pretty well. Oddly enough, Chris, Anne, and Billy hadn't
retreived their bikes yet despite all the ribbing we had gotten.We
got camelbacks and helmets as we were not likely to be back for about
2 hours and headed out fast on our bikes. I was pretty much tired at
that point from going what was about all out for me for the previous
30 minutes. Everyone said they felt good and we knew we would be in
good shape on the bike as that was probably our best discipline --
only we had no idea what the trails were like. We wound through
several singletrack and very technical, but fairly easy trails in
Hooper. As happens in races like this, we got stuck behind some teams
with "runners" who did great on the trail run and blazed it, but
weren't so good on their bikes. They would stop and get off to push
up short climbs we could have ridden up and we could do nothing but
do the same as things bottlenecked. The route isn't marked and we had
to ride constantly looking at the map to plot our way to the next
point. Just a note here: keep in mind that not all trails will be on
a map, and the checkpoints don't go sequentially so there were some
teams going in opposite directions. Also, remember some teams won't
be looking for the same point you may be searching out, so go your
way. We did point some lost runners in the right direction towards
their bikes as they were lost.

We found a few checkpoints and the forest opened up and we hit the
road where we passed a few teams riding to Comite. That's where road
riding came in handy. We got into Comite and another good sign; lots
of canoes left and very few bikes at the bike drop. We left helmets
and camelbacks and ran on the trails to some checkpoints on the trail
run. I got lost trying to shortcut and ended up behind the backyard
fences of a neighborhood after we bushwacked off trail trying to save
time. Luckily, we were able to run as it was mostly cleared and
eventually go to the checkpoint and from there remained on the trails
until we found all the checkpoints on the trail run.

Back to the bike drop where we retreived our camelbacks for the canoe
and Perry and I took a quick potty break (sometimes it's lucky to be
guys). We got our canoes, paddles, and lifevests and were told we had
to carry the equipment about a half mile to the river. If you think
this is easy, just try it sometime. We carried our 15-foot canoe
along an open road to the canoe put in. Only problem is that we, as
well as 4-5 other teams, missed where we were supposed to put in at a
flat sectionof the river. The river was way down (this is an
understatement) and we found ourselves perched atop a 10-foot sheer
drop from the river bank to the river. At this point, several of the
teams opted to work together and about 4-5 of us jumped off the bank
into the water and then we literally heaved the 16 foot canoes off
the dropoff into the water. They all nosedived and filled half with
water. We reorganized our team, emptied our canoe, and got in --
Perry and I paddling and Ranada sunning in the middle.

At that point one of the volunteers upriver (where we were paddling),
decided to tell us that we had missed the easy put in. No duh. It was
shallow and quickly, we hit the bottom. We pushed the canoe, paddled,
pushed, paddled, and eventually got to where we could no longer
paddle. Now we knew what the rope was for: a new event, the "canoe
drag". We got to a checkpoint and turned around going downriver. We
paddled, pulled, paddled, pulled, and eventually realized the water
was too shallow and that teams pulling their canoes were going faster
than us paddling because it was so shallow. Somewhere in there, we
were paddling at one point and all of us made the mistake of leaning
to the left at the same time. We promptly flipped the canoe and all
our gear out and we had to empty the canoe (ever tried to pull a 16-
foot boat filled with water? It's pretty heavy). So much for staying
dry. We had a short spot where we were actually able to paddle for
about half a mile in a channel and then the water ran out and we were
again dragging. Perry did the bulk of the towing at that point.

We began passing the front teams coming back and I tried to count the
coed teams to see where we were. I thought we were either 4th or 5th,
but it was difficult to tell sometimes (no offense here, but some of
the women were difficult to gender ID). We reached the turnaround
after Perry pulled for about a mile and a half and we walked in about
a foot of water plus sandbars. I went up for the checkpoint and was
greeted with the next mystery event. It was a vertical 10-foot pull
up a cliff on the river wall using a rope. It wouldn't have been
tough except I had only socks on and no shoes. The volunteers were
laughing and they asked where we had been since we had cuts on our
legs from bushwacking and I only had a pair of wet socks on. It was
really not fun doing the "canoe pull" as the sand from the river
bottom rapidly caked inside shoes and it was uncomfortable and heavy.
I rapelled up the rope and punched the checkpoint and then went back
to our canoe and put my shoes back on.

Within 2 minutes of pulling the canoe, my shoes were again filled
with sand. Perry and I saw a few lead teams which had their rope tied
to 2 teammates and looped through the nose of the canoe, so we tried
that pulling the boat for awhile, but it was difficult. Sand was
everywhere which rapidly migrated inside the shoes, and also one
person had to walk in deeper water. It didn't work too well. Perry
had pulled most of the way down, so I felt guilty and pulled some of
the way back to the takeout. Unfortunately, we played around taking
our shoes off and getting the sand out after wading in the water and
found folks passing us. We had to push the 16-foot canoe up a huge
sandbank and Ranada got a little miffed at having to carry all the
other stuff and started chunking water bottles and canoe equipment up
the climb (I don't think she would have minded if they would have hit
one of us). We finally got out of the water (that was very
frustrating) and then carried the canoe back to our bikes. Ever tried
carrying a canoe upside down with the seat on your head? It hurts and
it isn't fun.

We got back to our bikes and were directly behind the coed team in
front of us. We had a bike section in Comite left, a bike back to
Hooper park on the roadside, and then a few points in Hooper on the
bike and then we were done. We thought we were close to third place
at that point, so really humped it after dropping off the canoe. We
were right behind the coed team in front of us (we thought they were
3rd and we were in 4th), and we could see them all the way on the
bike trails. After a few more checkpoints, there appeared to be a
shortcut to our last point in Comite which I took. Unfortunately, we
ended up at the bike drop area and had to backtrack about a mile down
a trail to the last checkpoint. That was the only navigating mistake
we made the whole day, and I still don't know how we got so far off
track. We took a trail we had already run before and ended up in a
familiar place near an earlier checkpoint.

I mentioned that there was a treasure hunt nearby, and immediately
Ranada said "There it is" and went and got it ... just like that we
had $100 gift certificate. I never saw it. We got to the last point
(backwards) and on the way Ranada stopped in the middle of the trail
below a 6-foot drop which caused one of the guys on the coed team in
front of us to endo and crash right in front of us. Sorry dude.
Anyway, we found the last checkpoint, turned around and hightailed
out of Comite. We again were right behind them and had one
checkpoint left. I thought it was for third (placing) and suggested
we wait until the last checkpoint and then just bolt for the finish
in a team bikerace. Their girl looked tired, and Ranada looked mad,
so I figured we were OK. We followed them back to Hooper and found
another co-ed team right in front of us ... did we have a chance at
second?

We tracked in and out some of the trails headed toward the last
checkpoint. There was one portion where there were some drops and
climbs and this guy right in front of Ranada did a big endo and
crashed. We saw it and seeing no blood or bone fragments, went past
him as he said he was OK (at least we asked). It was a coed team. We
went as fast as we could through the last part of the trail to the
race finish and before we knew what happened ... it was all over. We
were done.
Perry hosed himself off, I went to drop my bike and cleaned up in a
sink, and Ranada went to clean up.

After the race, there was food catered from Johnny Carino's, liquids,
and just hanging out. Anyway, it was lots of fun, even with the
cuts, bruises, scrapes, frustration, a few cuss words from Perry of
all people ("this is a family event"), sand in the shoes, sore quads,
sunburn, sand in the crack, a broken front fork. For me it was all
worth it and yes, I will do it again...

If you want an idea, the race map is at Capitol Cyclery posted on the
map and message board, and just ask any of us and we will tell you
how much fun it is.

We finished 5th in co-ed (guess some of those women fooled me). The
food was good, plus, we got the $100 gift certificate.